As I work in the  classroom, I seek a vocabulary that will help my students become better learners. One recent word-convention I now share with my class is the phrase, “academic respect.” The practice of shared academic respect gives my students permission from their peers to ignore social pressures and pecking orders that are normally negotiated on the playground and in the lunchroom.

The difference between socializing and academic respect is a shift in focus. When we socialize, our focus is on the people, the players, the human interaction. With academic respect the focus is the concept at hand. With that shift in focus to the concept, the rules change. For instance, when two students discuss a problem together, there is no stipulation that the students are close friends, or that their peers will talk about how the two like each other. They can discuss the topic without the fear and distraction of what others think because the focus is the topic not the people.

Academic respect means social-game-off. During the time of shared study in a room that accepts academic respect, the learning is respected. The social games are simply put on hold. Academic respect is a zone.

During academic times I ask students to be sociable without being social. The students are expected to speak to each other kindly. The skill of listening as a way to hear and learn new ideas from other students replaces the ineffective social habit students have of impatiently waiting for the opportunity to talk. Harry S. Truman said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

Teaching students to have academic respect in the classroom is a way to develop a culture of learning that does not disregard individual and group differences. Academic respect is a coming together. It is a meeting place over ideas that affords the  possibility of closer ties between unlike individuals once they return to the rules and regulation of the roving pack.